In Amboyna, as in almost every part of the East, a man purchases a bride by a certain sum of money given to the parents. They have an unbounded admiration for very young girls, and a great abhorrence of old women. The girls are not often trusted away from their mothers; but courtship is carried on by means of nosegays, or plates of fruit, mutually exchanged, and arranged in such a manner as to signify the various degrees of love or disapprobation.
In some of the neighboring islands, when a young man is too bashful to speak his love, he seizes the first opportunity he can find of sitting near the object of his affection, and tying his garment to hers. If she allows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts nor loosens it, she thereby gives her consent to the marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is at liberty to try his luck again, at a more propitious moment; but if she cuts it, there is an end of hope.
The customs of the island of Bali greatly resemble those of the Hindoos. Widows sacrifice themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands in great numbers. When the king dies, all his wives and mistresses devote themselves to the flames; and when the queen dies, great numbers of her female slaves are stabbed with daggers, and thrown upon the pile. This death is considered so honorable that it is generally eagerly contended for; and if it happen that a request to be sacrificed is for any reason refused, it is mourned over as an irretrievable disgrace. Individuals who have been thus denied, as well as those who, being selected, are reluctant to become victims, are forever after imprisoned. If they find means to escape, the first person that meets them may dispatch them with a dagger, and cast their bodies into the streets. At the funeral of the king’s son, one of his wives, who was very young, asked her father whether, as she had been married only three months, it was her duty to sacrifice herself. The parent, steeled by custom, urged the disgrace she would bring on her family, and the poor girl sprung into the flames, where she was soon consumed. It seldom happens that one of the laboring class devotes herself in this way, and the sacred order never do; but it is almost universal in the mercantile and military classes.
Wives are purchased; and if a young man cannot obtain the requisite sum, he agrees to serve the father or guardian of the damsel, until his labor defrays the debt. When his conduct is very satisfactory, the parents often remit a portion of his services. Divorce is not allowed in Bali. The women of this island disfigure their ears by enormously extended apertures. They are frank and cheerful in their manners, and enjoy a degree of consideration which seems remarkable where polygamy prevails.
The women of Timor have very delicate and graceful forms, dark brown complexions, pleasing features, and black eyes full of vivacity. They consider corpulence a very great defect.
When a new king begins his reign they sacrifice a young female slave, adorned with jewels and flowers, by exposing her on the water’s edge until the crocodiles come and devour her. This is done on account of a tradition that the royal family descended from crocodiles.
The natives of this island chew betel and gild their front teeth. In general, both men and women let the hair flow loosely over their shoulders; but sometimes the wealthy fasten it with golden rings, or arrange it in the Grecian style, fastened by gold pins with diamond heads, or tortoise-shell combs inlaid with gold. They constantly wash their hair with lye, and render it glossy with cocoa-nut oil. The higher classes of females are seldom seen in public. They are distinguished by golden bracelets, expensive coral necklaces, and ornaments of copper-wire around their arms and ankles. They are sometimes tattooed with figures representing flowers, made with an instrument dipped in indigo. They spend their time in frequent bathing, smoking, chewing betel, and sleeping, while slaves fan them to keep away the insects. Sometimes they amuse themselves by making trifling articles of rice straw, or leaves of the pandanus; but all occupation, except light fanciful work, is left to the poorer classes. They pay evening visits, drink tea together, and remain till late at night, entertained with the dancing and singing of slaves, accompanied by the Malay tambourine and the Chinese tamtam.
The ladies of Timor are extravagantly fond of perfumes. Their dress is impregnated with the odor of sandal-wood and gum-benjamin, their beds are strewed with fragrant flowers, and they often chew small Chinese cakes, highly aromatic, which perfume the breath for a long time. They likewise wear garlands about their head, neck, and arms. Their love-letters are composed of flowers, and betel leaves folded in different ways, according to the meaning they are intended to convey. When a girl bestows a wreath taken from her own person, it is an open avowal of affection.